Sinister Visions News & Updates

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Catastrophic Server Failure

On Friday, January 8, Sinister Prime, the workhorse desktop computer that was the heart of the daily work of Sinister Visions inc., unexpectedly shut down with no warning or indication that anything was wrong. It has not started since, locking up at the boot screen after 2 recovery attempts ended in failure.

On Saturday, January 9, SinisterHosting.net, the dedicated server leased from HostGator.com, did effectively the same thing. After 9 hours of tech support emails and phone calls, HostGator.com informed me that the server was dead and they "would not" attempt data recovery.

So my computer and hosting server are dead. The odds of these 2 events happening less than 24 hours from each other are staggering, but happen they have.

Sinister Visions inc. is what I do for a living, all day, every day. To say that this sucks or is a setback would be a serious understatement, for both myself and my web hosting clients.

Now, having said that, I'm not an idiot. I backed up Sinister Prime every night and, thanks to that, I haven't lost any critical files. I have a powerful laptop that I bought last summer (THANK GOD). While it will take some time, I'll get all the sites back up and running, although in many cases it'll be like starting from scratch.

I will be in direct contact with hosting clients on a site-by-site/case-by-case basis to make new hosting arrangements.

I'm posting this to answer the inevitable questions that something like this will generate, and also to say that Sinister Visions will use this setback, in the long run, to make improvements and upgrades across the board. SVi is still very much open for business.

The last few weeks have seen some heartbreaking tragedies in the lives of many of my friends and colleagues; in spite of the last 48 hours, I count myself lucky that the problems I'm experiencing are with equipment and not loved ones.

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Sinister Visions clients have said...

“Knowledgeable, creative and most critically - prompt! Chad has the perfect skill set to create very user-friendly websites that work great and look super scary!”

— Ben Armstrong, Netherworld Haunted House

“Chad has been instrumental in growing all of our trade shows by marketing our brands through amazing web designs, brochures, banner displays and t-shirt designs! Web design is so important in today's world and we credit a lot of our success to Chad for keeping our image fresh every year. Chad works around the clock to deliver the best products possible.”

— Jen Braverman, TransWorld Trade Shows

“Chad is an unbelievably talented artist. The fact that he is able to take that creativity and use it to build websites that not only look good, but also work well and are reliable is just one of the reasons we've loved partnering with him over the years.”

— Edward Douglas, Midnight Syndicate

“SinisterVisions.com have built and serviced three web sites for me over the past 6 years. Chad's input, design, backup and all around service are a credit to him, especially as we are based in the United Kingdom. I would not hesitate in recommending Chad and SinisterVisions.com to anyone wishing for web design and creativity.”

— Mark Edwards, Farmaggedon

“Chad has always been one step ahead of what's popular at the time. He continues to amaze me with his creativity and designs. We at Terror on the Fox have always used Sinister Visions, and we/I always will!”

— Mike "Beaker" Parpovich, Terror on the Fox

“There is no more prolific dark web designer anywhere. If you want a successful event, then you need a Chad Savage-designed web site.”

— Leonard Pickel, HAuNTcon

“Chad Savage has a command of typography that isn't seen anymore... And that's only one of his skills; he's really a pioneer in horror / haunted / fantasy corporate ID and digital design. Most of the work you see in this arena that wasn't done by him was most likely influenced by him. He's an original.”

“Chad Savage delivers, in an internet world where most designers and enablers spew and wheeze far beyond their capacity. Chad views complex codings with an artist's eye ­ which makes him the real deal. He walks the walk. Hire him now before he wises up and prices himself accordingly.”

— David J. Schow, Author

“I knew by hiring Sinister Visions I would get excellent results. The results were even better than expected. Thanks for exceeding my high expectations.”